 Welcome everybody. Good afternoon to the penultimate, one of the penultimate sessions of ALT-C 2022. And I hope you're having a lovely afternoon and enjoying this flashback to the past behind me here, the classic OHP. So today I'm really delighted to welcome Sally Vinden, Dr Sally Vinden and Chad Flynn who will be doing our session. Now you may have seen one of Sally's sessions earlier on today as well. And Chad and Sally are going to do a session onward in the wake of COVID, which I'm very interested to hear about as I think we're all feeling that, you know, need some good motivation after everything that's happened to us over the past year, or two. So thank you very much Chad and Sally. I will hand over to both of you for your presentation. Thank you very much, Carrie. As with Sally, I'll just quickly introduce myself. My name is Chad Flynn and I am the dean of trades and technology and absolutely beautiful British Columbia. That's where I was from, from Medicine Hat, Alberta. Just recently, well, two years ago, moved out to Medicine Hat from BC. I would like to begin my presentation by acknowledging that I'm very honored to live where it can play in the traditional territory of the Blackfoot Confederacy and the people of Treaty 7 region of southern Alberta. And I'd also like to acknowledge and honor the homeland of the Métis people. Sally. Yeah, great. Thanks, Chad. So good morning, everyone. My name is Dr Sally Vincent and I'm an associate dean with the Faculty of Trades and Applied Technology at Vancouver Island University. So I'd like to welcome you to our session today from sunny Vancouver Island. And in doing so, acknowledge that the Vancouver Island University community, thanks to Senaimuk, the Kwan Sam and the Klallam on whose traditional lands we teach, learn, research, live and share knowledge. So talking of sharing knowledge, Chad and I are here today to share with you a research study that we performed with a colleague of ours. Tim Carson. We performed this research during mid COVID. So we're going to start today talking a little bit about why we wanted to perform this research. Why it matters to us. And then we'll be sharing with you what we found and what we believe is required next. So over to you, Chad. So prior to the COVID-19 crisis, trades and vocational education and training, or as what we'll call TVET, had begun to focus on integrating technology practices and open education into teaching and learning. It's safe to say, though, that the global pandemic accelerated this process as it did with many of our practices. Many TVET instructors found themselves having to learn to use digital tools in their teaching practice. The research project was previously set for implementation in late 2019, early 2020. So the research was conducted with Dr. Vinden, Tim Carson from BC campus and myself. In early 2020, as we all know, the World Health Organization announced the news of a global pandemic due to the COVID-19 virus. So for this reason, we deliberately delayed our data collection, knowing that instructors' experience and understanding of digital teaching and learning was going to rapidly change due to the expansive use of information and communication technology in teaching practices. And we really wanted to capture this unique opportunity. So while instructors, some instructors had some experience integrating ICT or information communication technology into their teaching practice. For many, this was a new and very frustrating territory. Many of us working with faculty during this time witnessed a significant pushback and a resistance to the change. Okay, so for us, our primary goal was to explore approaches that aim to strengthen digital teaching and learning pedagogies for trades, vocational education and training practitioners. And the following questions guided our inquiry. So great. Thanks, Chad. So firstly, we wanted to know which digital teaching and learning practices were being used by TV instructors. And we wanted to know which tools were being used. Excuse me, you might have to take over here, Chad, my voice is going. It was that early morning. Yeah, so secondly, we really wanted to know how and why faculty were using the digital tools that they were. And this would lead us to a better understanding as to the levels of competence held by TV instructors. So we really wanted to get a better sense of their digital literacy and fluency. We wanted to know what a TV instructor's perceptions regarding their students views on digital learning. Now this really builds on my previous research that I had done in my PhD. So we know that instructors perception shaped their curriculum and pedagogical decisions. And one of the key indicators is how instructors perceive their students view on digital learning. So in the context of TV, did instructors see their students as capable digital agents? Or alternatively, did they see them as hands-on learners with a resistance towards digital learning? Or were they somewhere in between? We also wanted to hear instructors' voices around their needs for professional development in regard to digital teaching and learning practices. So what did we find over to you, Chad? So the paper that we're speaking about, and we'll provide a link later on in the chat, goes into great detail regarding the findings. So there's tons of information in for instructors and about their experiences. We really recommend that you take a read through the paper. But for the purpose of this presentation, we're going to take more of a 30,000 foot view. And in this, we've identified four themes, four overarching themes. The first thing we identified is the emerging digital pedagogy, practices that hadn't existed before COVID. For example, synchronous teaching online. So we found a broad range of that. Typically at the very beginning of COVID, we found that there were many instructors that were teaching anywhere between five to seven hours online with the camera on mandate, which as we all know at this point can be problematic. Blended. So this is more synchronous focus, but we'd have some asynchronous elements. Yet we found that as a exhaustion group from both faculty and students, so did the interest to explore blended methods. And I know at my own institution, when we mentioned blended, we get some strong harsh looks. Asynchronous. So when one thing that we also found as instructors desire to learn more about an asynchronous approach also waned towards the end. This approach had a small portion of synchronous, but was primarily delivered using pre recorded videos and utilizing their LMSs. So the second thing that emerged related to how the digital tools are being used. And the results of this study have shown that there's a broad range of skills, ideologies and methods for using digital tools in TV education that we have tried to capture for you today in this matrix. We found that TV instructors are working in a range from low technology to high technology from teachers centered to learners centered and then everything in between. So an example of a high tech teacher centered approach was one instructor that we that we interviewed for this study had a background in filmmaking. So he presented to his class via zoom in a way that student would experience their lecture in a similar way to watching a film. So his ability with technology was quite remarkable. He was able to have multiple screens and multiple media available at all times to support his lectures. So we categorize this approach as high tech teacher center. The teacher, the learner was there in a very passive role in this environment. On the other end of this continuum, we found instructors using minimal technology such as the basics of the LMS system and the basics of zoom. So an example of this we found was with those that implemented team based learning TBL. So they had designed intentional learning journeys for students in the LMS and this required learners to be self directed yet collaborative. So an example of this is where the learning activities included problem based case studies. The students were required to work both independently and collaboratively outside of the virtual classroom. But then this is the interesting part. They were parachuted into zoom sessions for very short periods of time. So maybe just a one hour session and they were only parachuted in when the subject matter required in person collaborations. And this was related to when there were problems that needed to be solved that could not be solved independently. So we refer to this approach as low tech learned centered. One of the other things that we discovered along the way was the pedagogy shaped by resources. So pre-packaged curriculum or what we call standardized program outlines that would become to us by a government mandate through different agencies. We found that many instructors were driven by the pre-packaged curriculum and rarely explored alternative methods of delivery. We also found that OER open educational resources while it was acknowledged that they existed were rarely if ever used. Theme number four. So professional development needs. There is a story found there was a strong need to make space for professional development opportunities. Historically in the TVET model had focus mainly on changes led by industry requiring upskilling of practical skills. Yet very little time had been set aside for instructors to further develop their pedagogical approaches. And what we had learned was that teaching and learning in a digital world as we already knew requires an imagining of these practices. So this came to the fun part for us as we went into the study. How would we saw emerging and then we got to insert ourselves in here and find out what we would recommend to address these themes that we had emerged. There's also the studies have offered insights into TVET instruction particularly in the area of digital pedagogy that has rarely been explored. The line between pedagogy and the practice or practice of TVET instruction is indistinguishable. From this data that Sally and I and Tim collected, we've made 10 recommendations. We're going to be sharing nine of them with you this morning. Okay. So here we have a visualisation of the recommendations of this study. And as you can see in this graphic here, many of these recommendations overlap with each other. So this shows the complexity but also the beauty of the work that TVET has before it. So there's no one thing that can address all the issues that face TVET and the world of digital pedagogy. Yet working at one area has implications and influence for other areas. So actually today for being mindful of time, Chad and I are going to share with you just five of these recommendations. But as we mentioned earlier, we do invite you to go ahead and read this study and then you can get into the real details there and hear the voices of the participants that did take part in the study. Thanks Sally. So our first recommendation is training in the intentional course design utilizing synchronous and asynchronous instruction. TVET instructors were thrust into an emergency online delivery method regardless of their competency in digital pedagogy. In the time following, instructors have done the best they can with the tools at their disposal to provide exceptional training. It's recommendations of this study that a program be developed to assist TVET instructors in digital pedagogy. Most higher education instructors received very little to no training in pedagogy at all. The same is true of vocational instructors. Whilst the hope that trades education would return to a face-to-face method, few would argue that trades education has changed for good. Many found benefit in using digital tools and many more could benefit from the instruction and how to design and implement these into their own practice. Just because we've now gone back face-to-face, we found that many instructors are using some of the tools that they had created during the fully online modality that they were in. As well, it's recommended that a study investigating the actual effect on student experience and student grades with both methods would be at a valuable contribution to the conversation of digital pedagogy. It's no surprise that the idea of the digital native has been challenged. The results of this study show that students are very adept at using their digital devices, but they're adept at using them for social media and content creation. Many struggle with basic digital literacy skills, for example, searching just for information online. Digital literacy and fluency skills are necessary not only in a TVET student's time at school, but these are skills that are necessary for women in industry as well. A digital literacy and fluency skills component should be adapted into the training outlines for trades. Sufficient time and support for both faculty and students in the creation and use of technological tools. So there's a deficiency of digital materials and resources in TVET. They're just at the very beginning stages in my opinion. Institutions could find champions in the creation of digital resources for each trade and provide release time, financial compensation, or both for these champions to create resources. This creation must include a subject matter expert to provide proper context and an expert in the use of digital tools. This may be found in a single individual or in a team. It's recommended that someone with a TVET background be seconded to teaching and learning teams to offer support in the design and creation of these tools. It's also recommended that a learning technologies team be implemented to provide technological support for both instructors and for students. This team would provide just-in-time support in the use of LMSs or learning management systems, video conferencing, video tutorials, grade book issues, and so on. Much this has already done through the teaching learning centers, but the bandwidth of each center is probably being taxed with these issues from other schools as well. The creation of OER and further study on open educational practices and TVET instruction, and this is an absolute passion project of mine. It was the basis of my thesis for my masters. When resources are created, it should be encouraged that these be released with an open license, such as a CC by-license, Creative Commons. As more resources are created, shared, and adapted, it benefits the trades in more ways than one. First, it allows for a more rigorous peer review process. Secondly, materials can be adapted quickly and efficiently to address changes in technology and curriculum. And third, this will allow for a more open conversation with other institutions in the use of resources and continue on to work to harmonize materials, at least provincially in Canada. The use of OER has potential to help TVET stay up to date with current technologies and trends. Educators are also starting to see the value in an open pedagogical model. There is a growing repository of literature on the use of open educational resources and open educational practices and education. TVET is nuanced and very well suited to the use of both OER and OEP. Both TVET and open instruction education would benefit from the perspective that trades education could add to this conversation. Great, that's funny Chad, I don't know how you actually, you got to do all the talking there. I don't know how I got away with that one. So yeah, the creation of an intentional community of practice for TVET instructors. So anybody that joined my session earlier today will have heard a little bit about this, but we recommend that TVET instructors are invited to join teaching and learning centers in collaboration with instructors and educators from across the disciplines. TVET is its own unique culture of curriculum and it requires those that have experienced with this lived curriculum to support others. So we also recommend this development of communities of practice. There have been attempts by many individuals to create a community of practice in their specific trade to various degrees of success. But one of the real barriers is bandwidth issues for these communities and especially for the champion that's leading them. So what we heard is that these communities may die just due to the fact that the champion is just too busy to cultivate it. At the faculty level, we recommend that instructors are given space and time to foster a COP within their own faculty. And this, you know, in addition, this practice can then be mirrored at the institutional level. And each institute could then provide a subject matter expert from each of the trades to help cultivate community practice across institutions as well as within institutions. Thanks, Sally. So in conclusion, with the sudden abrupt shift to bring TVET into a form of emergency distance education, there can be no dispute that it brought with it some great challenges. It's also brought about innovation and creativity. Trades education has been permanently changed and will not be going back to normal. The result of the study has shown that there is a broad range of skills, ideologies, and methods for using digital tools in TVET education. Trades instructors are working in a range from low technology, low pedagogy, to high technology, high pedagogy, and everything in between. The results of this study and the company recommendations provide not only a roadmap, but hopefully an invitation to a much deeper conversation regarding TVET. Not only does digital pedagogy offer many tools that can enhance students' lives, but they also offer an opportunity for institutes, industry, and trades to collaborate, innovate, and create something beneficial. In keeping with the vernacular of trades, the global pandemic allowed us to open the wall of trades education. There's no doubt that the bones of the structure are sound, but TVET is in need of a renovation. Digital pedagogy offers the tools to help create a stronger, creative, innovative, and in the end more pedagogically sound system. And we found, and actually, Sally and I were in a conversation yesterday that at the end of the day, we found that the main limitation of this study is the absence of the student's voice in the pedagogy of care and the care of students. So we encourage you to join in our inquiry towards strengthening digital teaching and learning pedagogies for trades, vocational education, and training practitioners. So that's our presentation. We wanted to make sure we left some time for questions at the end. I'm going to go ahead into the chat and I'm popping the actual study itself so there's a link to it to the BC campus study. And on that note, if you have any questions, now would be the time to throw them at us. And I think you may have just put the link in the chat. They want to just... Oh, you're right. Oh, this is great. So he carries it on that for us. Oh, awesome. Perfect. Chad and I usually run over time. Very mindful. We've used their slides considerably, but we do have time for some questions, comments, suggestions. There's nothing in the chat yet, but let's just give people a couple of seconds to reflect and comment on it. And you may find there may well be some questions or comments perhaps in the Discord as well for people who aren't using the chat as well. Some people have been chatting in there. You may find later on. I'll give people a minute or two to share some thoughts with us if they want to. And Kerry, where would you like us to share our slides to? How do we... If you want to share them in the Discord channel, is this the link to the slides themselves? Because I can just pop that in Discord for you. Yeah, that's the link to the study itself. I don't have a link to the slides, but we could actually send them through the PDF. I think you can upload them to Discord, if the file is small enough at least. So if I'll start a thread for you in Discord where you can then post them so people can find them easily. I'll do that for you now. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, I can definitely... I'll hop on a Discord later on this afternoon, my time. So be in the middle of the night, your time, and pop them in there. Great. Well, people are thinking or maybe their minds are just blown at this moment. You spoke this morning in your session on the digital tool shed. That really speaks to the community of practice, and you've seen that grow. Now you had to champion it at the beginning. Have you found that as... Have you been able to let go of the reins of that champion and have someone take over? Yeah, what a great question, because at the time I was in the role of teaching and learning specialist that was specifically to the trades faculty. And so it aligned with my role really well. And so when I moved into my new role as Associate Dean, I was... My goal was the person that came in after me, they would then pick up the reins. And what's interesting is how the digital tool shed has had to adapt to this semi-pass COVID stage. But what we've found is because it was no longer required on a weekly basis, folks no longer had time to attend. They didn't have the need to attend every Friday from 8am till 9am. But what we're hearing is the desire for a continuation, but like a reshaping. But my idea now is what I'm hearing is that there's maybe five champions and I think this is the way to go. You need more than one person. You need, yeah. Absolutely. I think we've all experienced that over COVID when we all were part of these sessions where we just... We would get together because we're all in the mix and we're all in the fight together. But now that, as you said, we've stepped out. I find that a lot of those communities that I was part of kind of flickered off or fizzled out a little bit. Some have maintained, but again, that's on the basis of a few, like you said, a few champions. So it's really giving capacity to more than just one person to continue the community on. Yeah. And I think as well inviting others to join the communities that we belong to. Like, oh, for example, many folks here on Vancouver Island University may not be aware of this community. So I think we also, when we look at how we are championing ideas and shifting cultures, we can also be building communities in a variety of ways. It seems like it needs multiple approaches to building that and still finding those opportunities. Because one of the great things with the digital tool shed was it enabled me to really hold instructors and give them a platform where they could shine. And I think sometimes we get lost in our own institutions. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. So, you know what, Chad, I think we're just about at the end of their time. Awesome. I can't believe you and I managed to bring it in and keep it on time. It's normally on time. Carrie, we've never done this. We were so powerful in reducing our slides. We hope we didn't lose too much of the passion that we're in doing. Definitely not that exudes from the screen your passion for this work. So thank you both ever so much for sharing this with you. I'm going to give you a virtual clapping loop of a real one. So thank you both so much for sharing this session with us. And I've done a thread in Discord for you to put the slides in later if anybody wasn't able to make it. And of course, people will be able to watch this recording after the session as well if they weren't able to make it this afternoon. So thank you both very much for joining us so early in the morning where you both are. It's been a delight to listen to you and to hear about the work that you've done. And I hope you are able to join perhaps some of the sessions later on or watch some of the recordings. Enjoy the conference yourselves now that you've got the presenting out of the way. So thank you both very much. Take care. And we shall hopefully see you again at Outsie 22 soon. Yeah. The next Outsie. Take care.